


I Need a Woman to Love

by YaminoBossBitch



Series: KakaVege Week 9 [2]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Disaster lesbian Vegeta, F/F, Fluff, Gender AU, Graphic depiction of tattooing, Lesbian AU, Needles, Pain, Scars, Tattoos, death mention, female AU, herbo Goku, kakavege, mysterious bad past Vegeta, tumblr: kakavegeweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24735571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YaminoBossBitch/pseuds/YaminoBossBitch
Summary: A quiet day at Vegeta’s tattoo parlor, she doesn’t expect any customers, much less the beautiful if not silly woman who calls herself Kakarot. As she tattoos the stranger, they both learn interesting things about each other, and about themselves.
Relationships: Fem Goku/Fem Vegeta, Son Goku/Vegeta (Dragon Ball)
Series: KakaVege Week 9 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785994
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	I Need a Woman to Love

**Author's Note:**

> CW: Needles, graphic depiction of tattooing, pain, past death mention, scars, let me know if you would like anything else tagged 
> 
> This is for KakaVege Week 9. Prompts: Tattoo Parlor + Female Version + Insecurities

Vegeta sanitized her station. It was a quiet day, as it often was early in the week. She wasn’t expecting a lot of customers, in fact she might not have bothered to come in at all except that she was bored and didn’t have much else to do.

She was a little surprised to hear the door bells jingling as someone walked in. She looked up to find someone she had never met before. A woman, about Vegeta’s age, maybe a little younger. She was tall and muscular, her face was youthful with large, round eyes, and her hair was a messy mop of black spikes. Her clothing was athletic, and she had no tattoos on her skin that Vegeta could see. She smiled broadly when she saw Vegeta.

“Hi!” She said, waving. She stepped in. “You’re the tattoo-er person, right?”

“Yes,” Vegeta said. “I’m Vegeta. How can I help you?”

“Oh, wow, your tattoos are so pretty!” She exclaimed. She leaned over the counter to get a better look. Vegeta instinctively stuck out her arm for the woman to see. Her right arm had a sleeve across it depicting a colorful void of outer space, swirling blues and purples with stars, galaxies, and planets. Down toward her wrist was a skyline of trees, and in a clearing, the silhouette of a lone man.

Her left arm depicted something more abstract. There was an eye at the top of her shoulder that seemed to overlook all that was below it. Beneath that were scenes of chaos, burning buildings, people screaming in fear, bizarre, mythical creatures that seemed to be attacking. There was something apocalyptic about it, dark and sad.

“Do they have some sort of special meaning?” The woman asked.

“Sort of,” Vegeta grumbled. “What can I do for you?”

“Oh, yeah,” she straightened up. “My name is Kakarot. I wanted to get a tattoo, just a little one. Here,” she reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with a drawing on it. It looked like it had been drawn with a marker, and it showed a circle with four stars in the middle. “I’m not an artist but something kind of like this.”

“Uh-huh,” Vegeta said. “Do you want color?”

“Yeah, it’s like a ball, you know? Orange and the stars inside are kinda reddish. Is that something you can do?”

“Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem. How big?” She asked. Kakarot made an estimation with her hands, just about four centimeters in diameter.

Vegeta began preparing for the tattoo, sorting out pricing and having Kakarot read and sign waivers. Then, she got to work sketching the stencil. While she was working, Kakarot sat on a stool, swaying from side to side.

“Hey, Vegeta?” She said.

“Mm.”

“Does it hurt?”

“What?”

“Getting a tattoo. I’m kinda scared of needles.” Kakarot explained.

“You’re scared of needles but you want a tattoo?”

“Yeah, sounds kinda dumb, right?” She laughed. “I can’t stand getting shots or anything. It’s embarrassing. It’s just important to me, I wanted to get something to remember my Grandpa. So, here I am.”

Vegeta stared for a moment. Then, she turned back to the sketch.

“It doesn’t feel like getting a shot. You can’t even really see the needle like you can with a syringe. It feels more like...like getting scratched. Slowly and repeatedly. It can hurt more or less depending on where you get it, but it’s not so bad on the shoulder, where you want it.”

“Oh, okay. That doesn’t sound so bad.” She grinned. She had a goofy smile, but one that still made Vegeta’s heart flutter a little. Tattooing pretty girls was an obvious perk of the job for Vegeta, but this one was a little different. She seemed so sweet, maybe a little air-headed, but there was something about her that made Vegeta feel strangely alive.

“Alright, let’s see how this looks,” she said. She cleaned Kakarot’s arm with rubbing alcohol before placing the stencil on her. When she peeled the paper away, Kakarot’s face lit up.

“Ah, that’s perfect! Wow, I’m really excited about this.” She beamed. Vegeta felt herself smiling a little, too.

Kakarot settled into the tattoo chair. Vegeta sidled the stool up alongside her.

“Let me know if you don’t feel well or you want a break,” she said. Kakarot nodded. Vegeta put the gun to her skin and traced a small line. “Does that feel okay?”

“Yeah, that wasn’t bad. It really does just feel kinda like getting scratched.”

“Alright, it shouldn’t take more than an hour or so. If you need a break or feel dizzy, say something right away.”

“Okay,” she said. Vegeta got to work tracing the outline. She had a grip on Kakarot’s strong, muscular arm. Kakarot was mostly quiet while Vegeta worked on the outline. She leaned back against the seat, occasionally biting her lip and wincing a little.

When Vegeta had finished the outline, she backed up and showed Kakarot how it looked in a hand mirror.

“Whoa, cool,” Kakarot grinned. “That’s really going to be on me forever?”

“Yes, that’s how tattoos work.” Vegeta grumbled.

“That’s awesome!”

“Get some water and stretch your legs while I set up for the coloring and shading.”

“Okay!”

Kakarot stood and stretched, pacing around the studio. Vegeta started to organize her colors. After a few minutes, she felt Kakarot hovering over her.

“What is it?”

“I was looking at your sleeves,” she said. “Some of the coloring looks different in some spots.”

Vegeta looked down at her own arms. She shook her head.

“It’s scar tissue. It’s difficult to tattoo over.”

“Scar tissue?” Kakarot peered a little closer. Vegeta normally didn’t like people drawing attention to her scars, that was the whole point of tattooing over them. But in this case, a tall, pretty girl leaning over her, close enough that Vegeta could feel her breath on her shoulder, actually wasn’t too bad.

“I ran with a bad crowd a few years back. Got into some bad situations. Ended up with some bad scars.”

“Wow, but you can’t really tell. I mean, I had to get really close to see anything,” Kakarot said. She traced a finger gently along Vegeta’s arm. Vegeta bristled at first, then relaxed. Kakarot seemed to realize what she was doing after a moment and pulled her hand back. She laughed nervously. “Oh, sorry, I guess I got distracted there.”

Vegeta just shrugged and turned away, hoping Kakarot didn’t notice how she was blushing.

“If you’re ready, I can get started on the coloring.” She muttered.

Kakarot sat back in the chair and got comfortable.

“Remember, coloring hurts a little more than the outline. If you need to stop, let me know.” Vegeta said. Kakarot nodded.

Vegeta loaded up the first color and started working. After some time had passed, she noticed Kakarot’s arm tensing. She pulled the gun back.

“Try to keep relaxed.” She reminded her. Kakarot nodded. After a few more strokes, her arm tensed again. Vegeta pulled the gun back again.

“Sorry,” Kakarot said. Vegeta sighed.

“Sometimes people have someone with them whose hand they can hold. I can’t hold your hand because my hands have to stay sterile.” She explained. Kakarot nodded, looking a little sad.

“Yeah, I didn’t plan this out very well.” She said with a forced smile. Vegeta thought for a moment.

“You can grab my left arm,” she said. “And squeeze it a little if it hurts. That way the tension is in your hand more than your shoulder, okay?”

Kakarot smiled more genuinely, now. She gripped Vegeta’s arm and Vegeta got back to work. Kakarot was even stronger than she looked, and occasionally squeezed a little too hard for comfort, but after a time, she relaxed a little. She gently brushed a thumb over the scars she could feel on Vegeta’s arm, and Vegeta tried to ignore the way her heart fluttered.

Within a couple hours, the coloring was complete. Vegeta cleaned it off and stepped back to admire her work. Then, she helped Kakarot up to standing. Kakarot beamed when she saw it in the mirror.

“It’s perfect! Wow, how did you do that? It looks so good! It really looks like a ball, and the colors are exactly what I was picturing. You’re amazing!” She exclaimed.

Vegeta shrugged.

“I’m glad you like it.” She said. Kakarot stretched.

“Man, who knew just sitting there getting stabbed over and over could make a girl so hungry? I know this great little _bento_ place just a few blocks from here. You wanna join me?” She asked.

Vegeta stammered nervously for a moment.

“Are you... are you asking me out on a date?” She blurted, her face going scarlet. Kakarot grinned and shrugged.

“Yeah, why not?”

The audacity of it somehow made her even more attractive to Vegeta. She swallowed hard.

“Alright then. Let’s go.”

After bandaging and wrapping the tattoo, they intertwined hands and started on their way.

(If you liked this story and want to know how to get one of your very own, check me out [here](https://chi-chi-mcroberts.tumblr.com/post/627008462566653952))

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I have never written them as women before and it was actually a lot of fun. I hope I didn’t miss too many important details about tattooing, my last tattoo was years ago. 
> 
> Here are the inspirations for Vegeta’s sleeves, if you’re interested:
> 
> Right Sleeve: https://tattoolandia.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/gal%C3%A1xia.jpg 
> 
> Left Sleeve: https://thomashooper.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/thomashooper_four-horsemen-11.jpg


End file.
